Thursday, October 16, 2008

Turn a Fall Scarecrow into a Summer Lawn Flamingo Cozy

As I was sorting and reorganizing my craft stash, I came across an untouched quilted door panel. Definitely a UFP (unfinished project.) Originally, I was going to make it for someone as a gift but never got around to it. Therefore, it sat in my stash for several years while I took a sewing hiatus. Now, I’m back and my goal is to use as much stuff from my stash as possible. After some rooting around I realized that I already had the materials to put this guy together.

I’m not a quilter, but this product was easy to do. I cut along the dotted lines of the printed craft panel to cut out Mr. Scarecrow and his parts. Then I used the fabric cutouts as patterns to cut out a layer of batting and the plain backing fabric. Here I had to get a little creative with the layout because I didn’t have much in the way of batting and I didn’t want to go to the store and buy more. In a pinch, I used felt for the batting layer for the hands. That’s OK, because I needed to put those too-big-to-throw-away-but-not-big-enough-to-do-much-of- anything-with scraps of felt to good use.

I layered and pinned the pieces together and top stitched them together. For added interest I sewed along the printed lines/and details of the hat, shirt fabric, etc. (This, fellow nonquilters, is the official "quilting" part of making a quilt. I didn't know that either until I Googled it.) because bored and wanted to see if quilting some of the panel' s details would make any difference in it's look or not. Fortunately, my Grandmother’s button box and my gift-wrapping supplied the finishing touches of buttons and raffia sewed to the shirt to simulate straw.

Now this panel is defiantly two-dimensional. He’s supposed to hang on a door but I already have a fall door wreath that I like and don't want to swap out. What to do? Well, I made my scarecrow door hanger into a standing scarecrow decoration.

I grabbed some fallen sticks (thanks Hurricane Ike!) and sewed them to the back of the scarecrow to make sure he didn’t flop in the breeze as he did last year. Nobody likes a droopy scarecrow. Well, unless you’re Ray Bolger in The Wizard of Oz. That man’s scarecrow dance was genius.

I made my 2D scarecrow panel stand to attention by lashing him to a mental front porch flamingo with leftover bread ties and computer cable ties. Instant flamingo cozy!

Yes, he’s a little trite, but I like him better than the store bought scarecrows that are popping up in my neighbors’ yards. The best part of this project? The cost - zero dollars. Beat that Mastercard!

I love ChicoBags for traveling! It folds up in your suitcase so you can fill it will souvenirs. They are so lightweight and durable I often use mine as my main suitcase. Click the photo below for more info!

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